Love Is Forever
by Ava R.G
Summary: Bella Swan's life is seemingly crumbling down around her; what she doesn't know is that the best possible thing has just happened to her. Her parents are getting divorced! How has her life just changed forever? AU. All human.
1. And So It Begins

Hey everyone! So, this is my first ever fic! I'm really nervous to hear what you all think. I have more to post, but figured I would start slow just in case people thought I should do something differently. Please feel free to review and let me know what you think!

Oh! And I own nothing but the plot! All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Ava

I thought the saying went "Love is Forever," not "Love will Eventually Die!" I'm starting to think I have been lied to.

Hi. My name is Bella Swan, and right about now, I am pretty sure that I am the angriest teenager alive! Is that too over the top? Probably. That's supposedly how every teenager alive feels right about now. But then again, every teenager alive didn't just find out that their parents are getting a divorce.

Yeah. Divorced. My parents are getting divorced. That's what I came home from school to find out this afternoon. Presently, I am 'hiding' in my favorite spot behind my house. We live in a fairly wooded area, and if you go about ten yards or so into the forest, you will come across a very peaceful meadow. I say 'hiding' lightly because I am 100% positive that my parents know exactly where I am.

I really should be heading back to the house. I am also sure that my parents are sweating about what they are going to say to me when I get back. Good. That thought makes me happy. They should be sweating about it. After all, I walked in to see them sitting at the dining room table discussing the finalization of their divorce, completely unaware of my presence. As soon as I realized what they were doing, I raced to my meadow.

Apparently they forgot that I only had half a day of school today.

Heaving a sigh, I gathered by school bag, which I hadn't even thought to leave in the house, and started to head back home.

When I made my way through the front door, I noted the heated whispers from my parents coming from the directing of the kitchen. My Mom always liked to be in the kitchen when she was upset. There were so many things she could do to busy herself. It looked like in this instance, she had decided to make me a mug of my favorite herbal tea.

I was suddenly charged by a wave of anger and hurt.

I cleared my throat and dropped my bag loudly on the tile floor to make my presence known. Both of my parents jumped, clearly startled, and looked around at me, fake smiles plastered across their faces.

"Save it." I bit out angrily.

Now, normally, I would not be that rude to either of my parents. I was raised to be respectful to my elders. However, I was not exactly concerned with respect at this moment. Neither of them batted an eyelash at my harsh tone.

I moodily made my way over to one of the vacant barstools and sat down. Looking both my parents in the eyes, I could tell that neither was looking forward to what I would have to say.

"What I would like to know is, when the hell were you both planning on letting me know what was going on?"

Silence.

Eventually, it was my mother who decided to take the plunge.

"Bella, honey. We are both so very sorry that you had to find out this way. We figured it would be best to tell you about it after all the dirty work was over with. We didn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah, Bells. We had your best interest at heart."

I took a moment to absorb what they had just said. I thought about the things I had realized while I was in the meadow. Looking back over the past year or so, especially the last few months, I realized that things were not all that perfect around here. My parents had begun to bicker about the little things, always down each other's throats about one thing or another. But most of that had changed over the last month or so. I had kind of thought that maybe my Mom and Dad had decided to put their differences aside. I guess I was wrong. Instead, the appeared to have taken a different turn. Divorce.

"Bells. Please, say something?" said my Dad.

"Well, I guess I can't really say that I'm all that surprised. It doesn't mean I like it though. But, what I'm really mad about is the way I found out! How could you have possibly thought I was going to take the news better after all the 'dirty work was over with?' So, when does that mean you were actually planning on telling me? When all was said and done?" I demanded.

My Mom and Dad looked at each other a bit guiltily. Then I understood. That is EXACTLY when they were planning on telling me!

"HOW COULD YOU?" I screamed.

That was it. Everything hit me at once. I started to sob as I considered the mess my life had turned into over the course of one afternoon. My dad, ever the awkward one in situations like these, looked at me helplessly, trying to figure out how to comfort me. My mom, on the other hand, rushed to my side and enveloped me in a hug.

"Shhhhhhh. Sweetie, it's going to be ok. We still love you." My mom whispered comfortingly.

In the moment, I seriously doubted that. Little did I know that this was going to end up being just about the best thing to happen to me.


	2. Don't Think About It

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long delay between chapters! I'm guessing it wasn't such a great idea to start a story right before the start of the new semester of college. But, I'm back now!

I decided to make this chapter more of a background about Bella. I think it was important to give some background information on her and her parents so the rest of the story could make sense.

That all aside, I own nothing but the plot! Enjoy!

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It turned out that by the time I had accidentally found out about my parents' divorce, they only had about a week or so left of being officially married.

While my Mom and Dad were trying to sort out all the logistics of who got what, who was moving where, etc, I pretty much kept out of the way. Most of the time, I would take a bus downtown so I could keep myself busy at the local dance studio. I had been dancing since I was about four years old, and about ten years ago, when I was six, began training to become a professional ballet dancer. That was my dream!

As I walked into the building, I waved hello to Elizabeth, the front lobby receptionist, and opted to take the stairs to the fourth floor instead of the elevator.

As I pushed open the door leading to the stairs, a flood of light slightly blinded me. Climbing the stairs two at a time, I kept my eyes level with the stairs so I didn't trip. That was really the last thing I needed.

When I made it to the top floor, I found that there was already someone in the studio, and left my key in my bag. Peaking into the studio, I saw that Madame LeClaire, my ballet instructor and owner of the studio, was dancing. It was quite the sight to see. Madame had once belonged to the NY Ballet as a principal dancer. These days, she stuck to choreography and teaching. However, I was occasionally lucky enough to see her perform when I would come up for private rehearsals.

Ballet had been my number one escape for me as I was growing up, and Madame LeClaire had only helped to encourage that. The only times I saw Madame perform were when she was stressed about something. With that in mind, I made my way to one of the empty studio rooms to give Madame some privacy.

As I turned on some music and started to stretch, I began thinking about the current situation my parents had created. No matter how many times I thought about certain aspects of it, I never found the answer I was looking for. What brought my parents to this point? The news of the divorce had me asking myself that a lot lately.

My parents had me fairly early in life. I'm pretty sure that, had they had the opportunity to actually plan on when they wanted to have children, they would have waited at least five years after I came along.

Yup. I was an unexpected accident. Not that either of my parents would put it that way! They were young and "in love." They met in college their sophomore year, and up until now, have been together ever since. Part of me had always wondered, especially in light of recent events, if they would have ended up getting married if my Mom hadn't found out she was pregnant just one month after their graduation party.

My Dad is a very honorable man. I wouldn't exactly say that he felt he absolutely _had_ to marry my Mom, but according to my Grandma, he was determined to do things right. Well, as right as he could after getting Mom knocked up out of wedlock.

Mom and Dad set out to get married just a few weeks after finding out about my arrival. They had a small ceremony with close friends and family, and got to planning how they were going to make things work.

My Mom's parents provided them with a rent-free apartment to start out in. If it were completely up to my mom, they would have turned down that offer. My Mom really hated feeling like she owed my grandparents. However, my Dad, being the rational one, pointed out that they would need a home to bring me back from the hospital to.

In the months to come before my arrival, my Dad secured a job in the Criminal Justice department in Phoenix. Mom decided, after much persuasion, to hold off on the job hunt until after I was born, and possibly even a few months old. One thing was for certain; she was determined not to become some typical stay at home, soccer mom.

After my muscles felt sufficiently loosened, I laced up my shoes, changed the music to something a bit more upbeat, and headed over the the bare to finish my stretches. Once I was safely warmed up, I made my way to the center of the room and let my body do the thinking.

I became completely lost in the music. I had no idea what my body was actually doing; I just let it do whatever felt right. Madame had taught me how to do this one evening as she watched me struggle with a combination over and over and over again.

FLASHBACK

"You're thinking too much," Madame declared. Without another word, she walked out. I stood there puzzled for what felt like hours. A few minutes later, she returned with a smug look on her face.

"Isabella. You dance with your feet, not with your head!" she had pronounced, as if it should have been obvious to me in the first place.

Still, I was puzzled.

"_Isabella! _I know you are not stupid. You are a very lovely technical dancer, but you tend to lose points in my book when it comes to heart. I see it in your eyes that you have heart. I just need you to show me that in your movement. Just think about it. Or don't, for that matter."

END FLASHBACK

The music ended and I was startled by applause.

"Beautiful as usual, Isabella." said Madame LeClaire.

"Thank you, Madame."

"Remember what I told you. Don't think about it."

With those last words, she left me to myself.

Thinking about what she just said, I realized that I needed to take her advice, and not just with my dancing. If I was going to survive this crap of a mess my parents created, I just needed to stop thinking about it so much.


	3. Wait, what?

He everyone! I am so sorry for the long wait! From the beginning, I told myself that I wouldn't be one of those authors who posted and then waited forever to update. Well, now that summer vacation is here, that shouldn't be a problem anymore Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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"Bella, I think it would be best if you were to live with your father."

Those were the most recent earth shattering words I had heard since this whole mess spilled out. By now, my parents have reached an agreement about how they are going to split. Unfortunately, it doesn't really seem that my opinion matters all that much. For some reason, my Mom thinks it would be best for me to live with my Dad, goodness knows where, away from her.

"But, Mom, I don't want to move out with Dad! He knows absolutely nothing about raising a teenager, never mind a teenaged daughter! Besides, you know how awkward he can get about certain things…"

I briefly thought about the time my dad thought I was on the pill. He had brought a load of clean laundry into my room when he spotted a prescription on top of my dresser. At the time, I had been sitting at my desk doing some homework and looked up in time to see his face flush red.

Later that evening, my mother informed me that he had confronted her about not knowing that I was on "the pill." My mom had been completely shocked herself, and demanded to know what the heck he was talking about. He then described the prescription bottle on my dresser. It had taken my mother about fifteen minutes to convince my dad that I was indeed not on the pill, and that the prescription he had seen was for my spring allergies; I'm terribly allergic to pollen.

"I know honey, but it's really for the best. Your father is going to be moving to another state, and I think it would be best for you to have a fresh start. I don't want you to have anything holding you back from moving forward, and Phoenix has plenty to hold you back with."

"What about ballet? You know that it's my dream to become a ballet dancer!"

This wasn't making sense to me. I guess that, in the back of my mind, I knew that this day would come. Well, not this day specifically. I knew that it would come down to me having to live with one parent or the other, but I had honestly thought that I would have been living with my Mom. Not only that, but I had at least thought that I would have been able to stay in Phoenix!

"Bella, I'm sorry, but the decision has been made. Next week, you and your father will be moving to Forks, Washington. He has been offered a job out there, one that is much more stable than mine, and I would feel much more comfortable if you were living with him, in a stable environment…"

I started tuning my mom out when she said that I would be moving to Forks, Washington. I had never heard of it. Based off the name, I had this sinking feeling that it was going to be one of those small towns out in the middle of nowhere.

"As for your dance, I know it's your dream. That's another reason why your father and I think it would be best for you to move with him. Forks has an amazing private arts academy. I just spoke to the headmistress this morning; you are to begin classes in just a couple of weeks. Your father and I thought it might be a good idea for you to be able to settle in a bit before you have to start school."

"Wait…what?" I was confused.

"What's the matter, Bella?"

"What do you mean 'a private arts academy'? I thought that, while you supported my ambition to become a dancer, you always wanted me to have the social experience of going to public school."

"Well. With everything that's been going on, your father and I thought that it might be a bit easier for you to settle in to a new school surrounded by people who have similar goals. Besides, it would be a shame to be living in the same town as the academy and not have you go. For all you know, this academy may be able to make your career!"

Aha! Now I was getting it. This was a bribe. My parents have always gone on about how, while they were proud of me as a dancer, they wanted me to feel like a normal human being. My mom had this fear that, without being socialized with people my age that did "normal" things, I might get lost in the competitiveness of dance; basically, I think she was trying to make sure I would not turn into some stereotypical anorexic shut in who was too obsessed with perfection. I guess her plan worked. I am most definitely _not_ your typical dancer.

"Mom, I don't really think that this is your decision to make alone. Don't I have any say in the matter?" I demanded.

"Bells, I'm sorry. You've already heard what I have to say. The decision is final. I suggest you go and get packing. The moving trucks will be here to pick up you and your father's boxes in just a few days."

I gave my mom a death glare that would make any teenager happy. She looked like she wanted to say more to convince me, but ended up slumping her shoulders in defeat before embracing me in a hug.

"Bella, honey. I know this isn't going to be very easy for you. If it makes you feel any better, it's not very easy for me either. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some packing of my own to get done."

How could they do this to me? I can't believe that my parents could possibly thing that I would be just peachy with the decisions they were making! My life is so unfair!

It's official. I have the worst parents ever.


	4. Welcome Home

A/N: Hey everyone! So, I finally have the next chapter up! Sorry for the wait! As a token of my apology, I have another chapter ready to be posted within the next 24 hours. On another note, I have yet to really ask for any reviews.

So far, I have received plenty of hits on this story, and even a number of favorite alerts. So, if I am indeed writing this story for an audience, please let me know what you think! I would love to hear some feedback. Otherwise, I probably won't feel inclined to continue writing if there is no one actually reading. Thanks!

Charlie's POV

"Bells…Bella…Hey, Bells, we're here. Time to wake up, sweetheart." I was about to see if clearing my throat would get her attention when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my daughter start to shift around in her seat. There's no way she could have been all that comfortable curled up in the front seat like that, her neck angled awkwardly against the window.

"Hmmm? Are we there?" she asked sleepily. She stretched out her muscles as far as she could within the confines of the passenger seat of my Mercedes. As we drove closer to the inner parts of town, I was beginning to kick myself for purchasing such a luxurious car; it stuck out like a sore thumb in this quaint little town. I'm sure that's the last thing Bella would want, more attention, just because she was the new resident rich kid. Great!

I noticed my little girl was looking out the window, probably taking it all in, an odd look on her face. "Is everything ok, Bells?"

It took her a few moments to reply. She looked like she was trying to piece together her words in just the right way.

"Forks is a lot…different… than Phoenix…" she said. "How many people live here?"

I was happy to have done my research. Before accepting the position of Chief of Police and Investigation of this town, I did some searching to figure out what I would be getting myself into. In all honesty, it wasn't the job position that made me want to move her. I have always wanted to live in a small town, at least smaller than Phoenix, anyway. City life was more for Renee. My dream had always been to settle down somewhere small, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Somewhere I could come home from work, and if I felt the desire to, I could gather my fishing gear and catch the last few hours of daylight out on the lake. Somewhere I could learn the names of everyone in town, and easily recognize their faces when I passed them in the grocery store. Somewhere more calm than the congested city. I guess that's another reason Renee and I had decided to lean towards a divorce.

"Just barely over a thousand. Most of the people who live here have lived here their whole lives. Other people, like us, came to the small town after living in bigger cities. It used to be even smaller. But, once that arts academy opened a few years ago, more people have moved in to town."

Bella continued looking out the window. She was probably wondering where we were going to live. I had purchased a house just barely on the outskirts of town. I didn't want Bella and me to have to have neighbors breathing down our necks, especially now that we weren't in the city and we actually had the opportunity to avoid that. Renee and I had decided that it would be in our daughter's best interest to live a little further from everyone else, in a house that would have plenty of room for her to have personal space away from me if she wanted it.

I really want Bella to feel at home in our new house. I felt terrible that I was tearing her away from Phoenix. Much like her mother, Bells loved the city. I think that, more than anything else, she was going to miss the ballet studio, which is why I had her own personal ballet studio built in our new two story, 16 room house.

"Do you want me to drive by the academy?" I ventured.

Bella stiffened. "Um…no. I mean, no thank you. Can we just go home? I want to get settled in so I can start off more relaxed. I haven't seen some of my things in just about a week, and I want to make myself comfortable."

Bella's POV

In truth, I just wanted to get out of this stupid car. Looking around town, I couldn't help but feel more than a bit out of place already. My dad's car felt way too expensive for this town. If this was how I felt as the passenger in my dad's Mercedes, how was I going to feel driving around town in my sleek, burn orange BMW? Maybe I could trade it in for something a little less flashy?

Dad continued to drive through what must have been the middle of town. It may have just been me, but as we crept down Main Street, it felt like all eyes were on us.

Finally, we seemed to be making our way towards the outer skirts of town. The houses were much nicer out here. In town, it seemed like there were a lot of small, two family homes close together. Out in this part of town, the houses were not only further apart, but much more grand and elegant.

When I noticed that my dad was slowing down the car, I tried looking out the window to see if I could find a street sign, and saw that we were on Willow Avenue. About half way down the street, our car came to a stop in front of a gorgeous house. The house itself was white with black shutters around the widows, and had a red front door. There was a gated front lawn, just the perfect size for a small dog to run around. A flower garden lined the front porch, and on that front porch sat a set of rocking chairs with a small table in between them.

"Welcome home, Bells."

I could hear the smile in my dad's voice. I glanced at him quickly out of the corner of my eye before looking back at the house.

"This is our house? This is where we are going to live?" I tried not to sound too surprised, but I _was_ surprised!

"Is something wrong, honey? Did I choose a bad house? Is the location all wrong? I'm sorry! I can…it's not too late…you know, there are other houses…"

"Dad!" I cut him off. He took a breath to collect himself. It looked like I startled him. I quickly smiled. "Dad, I think it's beautiful."

The smile that broke out on my dad's face had to have been the biggest I had ever seen on him. I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Welcome home, Bells."


	5. A Surprise Or Two, Maybe Three?

Bella's POV

Living with my dad has turned out to be better than I had originally thought it would be. Actually, I might even be so bold as to say that living with him was pretty nice.

Since we first arrived in Forks a couple days ago, settling in has been pretty fun. At first, I thought it would be unbearable. I think what bothered me the most was that I wasn't going to know anyone. Little did I know, my dad had considered my feelings of apprehension about starting in a new town, and even went as far as to help me out with a new friend.

FLASHBACK

_Dad got out of the car and walked over to my side to help me out as well. He took my hand in his and we made our way to the front door._

"_Would you like to do the honors, sweetheart?" _

_I smiled up at my dad and took the keys. I really had to hand it to him; he was doing well, considering he just took over in the parenting department. It was going to be an adjustment for both of us. _

_I unlocked to door and pushed it open. If possible, the interior of the house seemed even more beautiful than the exterior. The foyer was very grand. There was an elaborate staircase that lead up to an above hallway that had a lookout railing. The room itself was two stories high with huge windows that let in an abundance of natural lighting. _

"_Would you like to take a tour of the entire house, or would you rather we just go upstairs and I show you which room is yours?" My dad had a smirk on his face, indicating that he knew which option I was more interested in. _

"_Can you show me my room, please?"_

_Dad led the way up the grand staircase to the second floor. Once we were on the landing, I saw that there was a long hallway with doors on each side. There was another hallway adjacent to that one, running the length of the lookout railing, all the way from one end of the house to the other. We walked down the hall with the doors. _

"_Your bedroom is right down there at the end of the hallway, last door on the right."_

_I smiled as I took in the décor. It was very much my father. My mother was very elegant. She loved things to be over the top. My dad, on the other hand, preferred simple elegance. I always took him to be out of place in the city. He never seemed to actually fit in naturally. However, here, my dad looked like he belonged. The walls of the hallway were painted a beautiful creamy yellowish color. I think I am going to like it here. _

_I opened the door to my bedroom, and my mouth dropped. It was absolutely huge! I couldn't think of what I should say to express my feelings to my dad. Meanwhile, the poor guy was timidly standing at the door. _

"_I just remember how much you used to like purple…and…and, um, well…I'm sorry if you don't like it. Your mother told me I should have just let you decorate it however you wanted. I just thought that…unpacking and everything…having to decorate your room might be one less thing to do. We can have it changed! I can call the interior decorator and have her come back…she can redo it however you tell her to...I…"_

_The walls were painted a beautiful, darkish lavender. The furniture was all white. I had a huge bed, my own little study area with a desk, couch, coffee table and end tables. I had my own plasma television mounted to the wall which, by the looks of it, had a cool device that would make it possible to pull it out and make it visible from any point in the room. I even had my own little refrigerator tucked next to my desk. Looking around, I found that there were two doors open. One led to an en-suite bathroom, and the other, a walk in closet. The floors were a gorgeous, dark hard wood with a plush area rug that looked like it would feel like heaven under my feet. _

"_Dad, what are you talking about? I…I mean…it's...it's absolutely beautiful! It's perfect! I don't want to change a single thing." _

_I think that what I did next surprised him; I know it surprised me. I ran right over to my dad and enveloped him in a strong hug. It's not that my dad and I don't express our love for one another; it's just that, as I grew into my teen years, things like emotions became awkward between me and my dad. _

"_Bella, are you sure? Like I said, all I have to do is make one phone call and you can make it exactly the way you want it."_

"_Dad, really, I absolutely love it. I couldn't have made any better choices myself. And, thank you for remembering my favorite color." I couldn't help it. Another smile broke out across my face. _

"_Well, I'm honestly glad you like it, sweetheart. I hate to tear you away from your room, but I think there's something else you might want to see."_

_I cocked my head questioningly at my dad, but all I got out of him was a devious little smile and chuckle. Intrigued, I followed him out of my room. He led us back down the hallway and made a right, and stopped at the only door along the wall. My dad looked like he wanted to say something; I'm not sure if he thought better of it, or just couldn't think of the right thing to say. Either way, he just decided to open the door and step aside, motioning for me to walk in ahead of him. _

_What met my eyes made my heart skip a beat. Apparently, my dad had some work done to the house before we made the trip to Forks because, currently, I was standing in my own personal dance studio room. There were wall length mirrors, bares, something that looked like a high tech music system, and, wait…was that a…a puppy? There, in the middle of the floor, with a purple bow tied around it's neck, sat the cutest little puppy I had ever seen. I turned around to see my dad leaning against the door jam, smiling broadly. I knew that he had to know there would be no questioning my excitement over this particular surprise. That is, the studio room at least. The puppy just happened to be an amazing added bonus!_

"_Dad, what did I do to deserve all of this?" I asked as I made my way over to the puppy. I picked it up and cuddled it to my chest. _

"_Bells, sweetheart, I love you. That's the only reason I needed to do this for you. I know that leaving phoenix was really hard for you. I just thought that, well, maybe some of this could help make the transition a little easier for you. What do you think?" He sounded like he might be starting to question himself._

"_About what? The studio or the puppy?" I laughed. _

"_Both, I guess."_

"_Honestly, dad, I couldn't be happier. It means a lot to me, all of this planning you did to prepare for us to live here. I'm really appreciate it, dad."_

"_I'm so happy, Bells. I think this is going to work out, you and me. Well, you, me and this little lady." He said as he walked over to me. _

"_It's a girl?" I asked. _

"_Yeah," he chuckled to himself. "I thought you might like having another girl around here."_

END FLASHBACK

I couldn't help but smile at the memory. Currently, my puppy, Lucy, and I were up in my room working on getting ready to go for a walk. This neighborhood conveniently came equipped with a dog trail. Over the last of couple days, Lucy and I had ventured a little further down the trail, and eventually, we discovered that the trail lead right into the main part of town. Maybe today we could venture out a bit further and see what this town was all about.

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Please Review :)


	6. A Walk In The Park

Here's an extra long chapter for you! It's finally time to introduce the Cullens; some of the any way. Things should start moving along quicker now that I got all of the introductions out of the way. I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

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"Lucy! Hey, Lucy, that's quite enough!" Lucy seemed to be over excited about something ever since we made it into town. I'm not sure if she was just excited to be off the dog walk path, or what, but ever since we made it to Main Street she had been pulling at her leash like she was trying to strangle herself. I finally gave up trying to scold her and stopped walking altogether. I squatted down to be at Lucy's level.

"What is it that has you all hyper, Lucy? Are you hungry? Maybe you're thirsty? I should have planned better before taking you on a longer walk." I spoke to her as I scratched her behind her left ear. I had quickly discovered that was her favorite spot to be scratched. Whenever I wanted her to behave, all I had to do was scratch at that sweet spot of hers. "That's better, girl. Let's see if I can find somewhere to get you some water."

The two of us took off toward a store that had large store front windows. From the other side of the street, I could tell that it was some sort of corner grocery store. I should be able to find a bottle of water, and maybe even a plastic bowl for her to drink out of. There was only one problem; I highly doubted I would be allowed to bring my dog into a grocery store.

"I don't know, Lucy. What do you think? Maybe there's a park around here somewhere? If there is, I'm sure we'd be able to find a fountain or something."

With that new idea, Lucy and I took off with the intent of finding a local park. Lucky for us, we didn't have very far to go. Just a block away from Main Street, we were able to find a dog friendly community park. I heard the voices of people laughing and chatting before I spotted the neat, fenced in area. There was a small jungle gym for younger kids, a large swing set, a basketball court, and a large picnic area with tables and plenty of clear, grassy area to run around. Just as I had suspected, there was a water fountain conveniently located in the picnic area. I headed over in that direction.

As Lucy and I made our way over, I noticed that there was a group of teenagers who looked to be my age, running around playing pass with each other. There were three guys and two girls. The guys were the ones playing pass, tackling each other and rolling around on the grass, wrestling. The girls were lying back on a picnic blanket, enjoying the sun and chatting, occasionally glancing disapprovingly towards the guys and rolling their eyes.

When Lucy and I reached the fountain, I realized I had nothing to feed her the water in. Trying to think quickly so I didn't look like an idiot, I took her unused doggy bag out of my back pocket and decided to fill it with water; I could probably poke a hole in the bag and try to squirt it in her mouth or something; just as I realized how stupid of an idea that was, one of the girls who had been lying on the blanket came over to me.

"Awww, you have such a cute puppy! What's its name?"

I looked at the stranger a bit oddly. Who just walks up to a total stranger and asks about their dog? Well, I guess that could be the difference between living in Phoenix and living in Forks. Deciding it would be rather rude to just ignore the girl, I gave her a quick smile.

"Um, this is Lucy." I said awkwardly.

"That is an adorable name! What kind of dog is she?"

"I think my dad told me she's a golden retriever." 'Way to go, Bella!' I inwardly scoffed. I was sounding like such an idiot.

The odd girl reached down to pet Lucy. "I'm Alice, by the way, and those are my siblings. Would you care to join us?" she asked. I really didn't want to. Coming in to town today has obviously been a bad idea.

"I…well, I was just…you know…" For some reason, I couldn't make a coherent sentence. I cleared my throat and tried again." I was just trying to get some water for Lucy."

"Oh, do you need a bowl? Or do you have one in your pocket, or something." Alice giggled at her own joke.

I did need a bowl, and I didn't want poor Lucy to get dehydrated. She was panting pretty hard, the poor girl.

"Um, yeah, if you happen to have one, that would be great." I agreed.

Alice ran over to where she had been lying and reached into a picnic basket, coming back out with a small plastic bowl. When she got close enough, she handed the bowl over to me. "My siblings and I decided to come out for a picnic today; enjoy the beautiful weather. It's not every day that Forks gets to see the sun!"

I filled the bowl with water for Lucy.

"Why don't you and Lucy come and join us. I don't believe I've ever seen you around here before." She said. I figured it would be more than a little bit rude to just take the bowl she had given me and run, so, reluctantly, I walked back over to the picnic blanket with Alice.

"Oh, I didn't catch your name," she said. "Isabella," I told her. "But, everyone calls me Bella." I quickly added. I should have just introduced myself as Bella. I made a mental note about that for the future. The last think I wanted was for everyone in town to call me Isabella, it just sounded so, so…formal…snobby. I didn't need everyone thinking the new girl was a snob. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I just didn't need to make starting over in a new town more difficult than it was already going to be.

"Hey guys, this is Bella!" Alice said as we reached her siblings. The other girl who had been lying on the blanket propped herself up on her elbows to look at me, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand. The boys all stopped what they were doing. A big bear of a guy made his way over to us, followed slowly by two smaller guys. Had Alice said that these were all her siblings? Looking closer at them, only a few of them looked like they could actually be related.

"Bella, this is Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Edward. Everyone, this is Bella." I glanced at each one of them in turn as Alice pointed to them and gave their names.

"Hi." "Hello." "What's up?" "Hey." They all said. I had to clear my throat again. I didn't really like being the center of attention. "Uh, hello." Yeah, that sounded great. "And this little lady is Lucy." Alice continued, referring to my dog. I just sort of looked down at Lucy, not sure of what to say. Alice looked around at everyone and was obviously displeased with the awkward silence we had all settled into.

"Alright, I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean to disturb your important game! Bella and Lucy can just sit with me and Rose while we get to know one another."

The guy called Emmett laughed good-naturedly and made eye contact with me. Before I could avert my gaze, he mouthed the words 'I'm sorry,' chuckled, and ran back to the ball he and his brothers had been playing with. The one named Jasper just shook his head with a smile and took off after Emmett. Edward, on the other hand, looked at me contemplatively before turning around and walking over to his brothers.

"Her name is Lucy?" asked Rosalie. I looked over to her and nodded. "Yeah, I kind of couldn't think of anything else. It was the first name that popped into my head when I looked at her, even before I knew she was a girl."

Rosalie smiled at me…I think. It kind of looked more like she smiled in spite of herself, like she didn't really want to be nice to me for some reason. It confused me.

Alice leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. "Don't worry about Rosalie. She doesn't really care for anyone; well, except Emmett." Alice giggled. Rosalie just looked at her sister and rolled her eyes before collapsing back on the ground and closing her eyes.

Then it hit me. I thought that she…and Emmett…all of them…what? Alice must have seen the look of confusion on my face. "We're not actually blood related. Well, not all of us, at least. We're all adopted. Edward and I are twins, and Emmett is our older brother. Jasper and Rosalie are twins too. Emmett and Rose are together, as are Jasper and I. It's kind of nice the way it worked out, except for Edward. He sort of got the short end of the stick with that one. Anyway, I want to know more about _you_! I'll tell you more about us later. Like I said, I've never seen you around here, so you must be new to the area. It's a small town, so I should have seen you before if you're not."

I took a deep breath. I may have been settling in just fine so far with my dad, but that didn't necessarily mean that I was ready to try and buddy up to the other teenagers in town.

"Well…yeah, I am new. I, um, I just moved in to town with my dad a couple days ago."

"Oh! So that must be you who just moved into that house on Willow Avenue? There haven't been any other people moving into town recently. Actually, you and your dad are the first in about two years. A whole bunch of people moved to the area when the arts academy opened, but other than that, there haven't been any new residents in over five years!" She went on excitedly. "So, is that why you moved here?" she inquired.

"Um, well, not exactly. My dad…well, he got a job offer and decided to take it. I sort of just came along with him." Wait a second. "How did you know I moved into a house on Willow Avenue?" I asked. To be honest, I was more than a little creeped out.

Rosalie chuckled darkly from her spot on the blanket.

Alice scowled down at her sister and then smiled back at me. "Sorry if that sounded super stalker-ish of me. I swear I'm not a creep! We live on the same street as you, in the house across the street. I saw the moving trucks delivering the boxes about a week ago, and then there had been a design crew in and out of there for days before that, so it only made sense. Like I said, you and your dad are the first new residents to this town in quite awhile." Alice spoke as if everything obviously made sense. Of course, it actually did. I guess I just found it strange that I was automatically picked out as the new girl in town. It's something that definitely wouldn't have happened in Phoenix; it was just too big of a city, and nobody else really cared about someone else's business.

"What's your dad going to be doing for work here in town? It's pretty small; I can only imagine it must have been pretty important for him to decide to move all the way out here." Alice continued with her questioning.

"He's the new Chief of Police and Investigation at the police department. He mentioned something about wanting to do something different. I didn't know that different meant moving out to the middle of nowhere." Crap. That was _so_ rude! "I mean, oh gosh…I am so sorry! That's not what I meant…"

Alice was laughing; _laughing. _The girl was honestly _laughing _at me right now. Even Rosalie made a sound that could pass for a laugh. I was so confused.

"I…I don't think I understand. What's so funny?" I asked.

Alice caught her breath. "Nothing really," she admitted. "It's just that, you are far from the first person who wasn't impressed with this town. We were new to the area at one point too. About ten years ago, our parents decided to move out hear because my dad had a job offer as well. He's a doctor, and he was offered the position of Chief Resident. Before then, we lived in Chicago. It was sort of perfect timing, really. My mom was getting worried about raising five kids in the city, my dad was becoming increasingly discouraged with his hours at the hospital – they would always schedule him the night shift even though he constantly said it was impossible for him to work those hours with four six year olds and a seven year old running around the house – so, we packed up and moved here." Even though I was listening to Alice talk, I couldn't help but try and imaging each of the teenagers I had just met, around the age of six, running around some house causing absolute mayhem.

"Anyway, even though we were pretty young, it took awhile for us kids to settle in to living in a small town. I mean, Chicago is huge in comparison to Forks." I nodded.

"Yeah, so is Phoenix." I agreed.

"Really, you're from Phoenix? You don't look tan." Alice gawked.

Rosalie sat up quickly. "Honestly, Alice. Even I think that was a bit rude!" she scoffed at her sister.

Alice looked scolded. I couldn't help but smile. I looked at my skin tone, and I truly had to agree with Alice. I _didn't _look like I was from Phoenix.

"No, don't worry about it." I giggled, despite myself. "I never really did look like a native there. Unfortunately for me, I inherited my dad's pasty white coloring. My mom has no trouble tanning whatsoever. All she has to do is walk out to the mailbox and back; by the time she back inside, she's already showing some sort of tan." That's when I realized I had said too much.

So far, Alice had yet to ask me about my mother. I'm not sure if she had assumed that she was no longer in the picture, but now that I had mentioned her, I was expecting her to ask me about it.

"Is your mom still in Phoenix?" I wasn't let down. I was however, surprised. Alice was not the one to ask me the question; instead, Rosalie did.

I took a moment to think about the best way to answer the question without having to tell the whole story. While doing so, I absentmindedly petted Lucy, who had long since finished her water and curled up into a ball to take a nap, securely tucked up against my legs.

"Yes," I finally said. "My mom still lives in Phoenix" I paused, not really sure what else to say. I was just so angry about everything that was going on between my parents still. At first, I didn't think I wanted to talk about it. But now that I was already talking about it, and with people my own age, I noted that it didn't feel as awkward as I had once thought it would.

"My parents are recently divorced. About a month ago, I walked in on my parents having a discussion about finalizing everything. Carelessly, they hadn't realized that I only had a half day of school that day, and decided to have a little meeting at the dining room table; that's how I found out. A few weeks later, my mother told me that I needed to pack up my things, and that I would be moving in with my dad, here. Before moving in with my dad, I was really _angry_ with him, you know? I can only describe it as the type of anger that you would reserve to be directed at your parents, you know? Anyway, my dad and I pulled into town just a couple days ago. Up until we got to our new house, I was determined to avoid him at all costs for as long as I could. But then, when we got here, I couldn't help but let a lot of my anger towards him go. Like you said, Alice, there were decorators at our house before we moved in. He did all he could think of to make this move easier on me…" I stopped right there. I don't know what had come over me, but I realized that I had just told these two strangers everything that had been upsetting me over the last month. Well, almost everything.

Alice and Rosalie looked at each other, and then looked at me. Before either of them could say anything, I spoke up.

"I am so sorry. Neither of you needed to hear that. I didn't mean to bother you with my personal problems. I should just…go." I made a move to grab Lucy. I had every intention of just walking off and going home. I'd carry Lucy if I had to.

"No, wait!" It was Rosalie again.

I looked at her in confusion.

"Normally, I wouldn't care. Well, it's not that I wouldn't care; I just wouldn't show that I care. After all, I just met you, right? It's just, from one angry person to another, I can tell you could use a friend or two right now. Alice is everybody's friend already. Why don't you stay here with us for awhile longer? We can talk about something else. Besides, you're going to be seeing us again anyway; we're neighbors, remember?"

Alice gave me a huge smile and nodded her head at me in encouragement.

I considered everything Rosalie just said to me. I was actually kind of impressed with it all. When I had first been introduced to her not too long ago, she had given me an attitude for no apparent reason. Maybe it was in my best interest to accept a friendship with these two.

* * *

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	7. First Day

"Hey dad, I'm going to head out now!"

There was loud thumping on the stairs as I heard my dad barrel down the staircase. "Wait, I want to get a good luck hug in before you leave!" he said as he came to a stop in front of me.

I tried with all my might to hold back a snort when I heard that. Since when was my dad interested in giving me "good luck hugs"? Figuring it would be the simplest way to just get out the door, I obliged.

"Um, thanks dad." I chuckled. He heard the chuckle, but apparently decided to ignore it. "Alright," he said. "Now, you have a _great_ first day of school, you hear me? I just know you'll blow everyone at that school out of the water." He was beaming. I had to hand it to him, though. He was playing the part of the proud father very well.

"Thanks dad. But, this isn't the dance studio in Phoenix anymore; this is the big leagues. It's one thing for me to dance for Madame LeClaire, but this is a professional arts academy that has seen a lot of talent over the years. I was sort of Madame's special little project back…home."

I mentally kicked myself. I had been trying my hardest ever since we arrived in Forks to make my dad feel like I considered this home now. It was hard, considering it didn't really feel like home yet. But, to be honest, having made friends with the Cullens had made the last few days a lot easier than they could have been.

My dad's face sort of scrunched up a little, but then it was passive. "Either way," he continued, "I know that you're great at what you do, and no matter what you say, you are bound to impress at least someone." He smiled.

I smiled. "Thanks dad, truly. For everything" I said. For the briefest of moments, I swore I saw a glimmer of a tear form in my dad's eyes. Since the move, he had been acting a lot differently. I sort of had a feeling that he was taking single parenting very seriously. Maybe being so involved in my life, well, at least more than he had been before, had softened him up a bit. Whatever it was, I didn't mind; for now, at least.

_Knock, knock, knock. _

I knew who it was even before I answered the door. After talking more with Alice and Rosalie in the park the other day, I had found out that all of the Cullen children attended the arts academy as well. Considering we lived just across the street from one another, we had agreed to take turns car pooling.

"Good morning, Bella! Are you ready for your first day of school?" Alice inquired. Before I could answer, I saw Alice looking over my shoulder. "Oh how rude of me! Good morning, Mr. Swan." Alice beamed. "How are you today?"

My dad chuckled. I don't know why, but for some reason, he had taken a quick liking to Alice. It may have been because she had insisted on being friends with me, but I had a feeling it had more to do with her energy; it seemed to humor him.

"Good morning to you too, Alice" he smiled back. "And how many times am I going to have to tell you to call me Charlie? I don't like this Mr. Swan business. It makes me sound so old!"

"That's because you are old, dad" I added to the banter.

"Hey now – "

"Sorry dad! Gotta run! I don't exactly want to be late on my first day of classes. I will see you when you get home from work!" I laughed as I grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her out the door.

"Thanks again for the ride," I said as I climbed into the backseat of the car. It was very beautiful; a cherry red convertible. It belonged to Rosalie. After having met the Cullen family, gone to their house, and seen all there cars, I no longer felt like such a center of attention.

"Well, it's about time" Rosalie said. She was in the driver's seat, thrumming along to the music on the steering wheel, clearly waiting to get a move on. Alice gave her sister a glare and shoved her with her elbow.

"Ow! What was that for?" Rosalie exclaimed. Alice just gave her a pointed look as if to say, 'must you really ask that?' Rosalie just rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I get it." She said. Then, turning around to look at me, she said, "Good morning, Bella. How are you doing this lovely morning?"

I just snorted out a laugh.

Shaking my head, I said, "Good morning to you too, Rose. I'm just marvelous. Are you ready to go to school now?"

Rose gave me a crooked smile. She turned around, put the car in reverse, and pulled out of the driveway.

As we pulled out of the driveway, I saw the Edward heading out to his car, closely followed by Jasper.

"Do the guys normally take a separate car?" I asked.

Alice turned around to face me. "Not usually. However, given our new carpool arrangement, there aren't exactly enough seats for all of us to fit in the same vehicle."

"I am so sorry. I didn't realize how much of an inconvenience it would be for us to carpool. I can just as easily drive myself to school each morning." I insisted.

I was surprised that Rosalie was the one to respond to my insistence. "Don't worry, Bella. It's actually a nice change. Edward pretty much drove us to school every morning. I never really had the chance to bring my car out. I love to drive. But my car isn't exactly the most practical for a comfortable carpool with five teenagers. I mean, have you seen Emmett?" she laughed to herself. I smiled as I tried to picture all five of the Cullen kids crammed inside of Rosalie's beautiful car. I guess she was right.

"Alright, I just don't want to be an inconvenience." I said.

Alice was the one to respond this time. "Trust us, Bella. It's nice to have a bit of a change for once. Besides, you'll be doing your own part in this arrangement. Tomorrow morning is your turn to carpool _us _to school with _you_."

I just smiled at Alice. I couldn't help but think I needed to look at the bigger picture. Here I was, sitting in the car on the way to my first day at a new school, arguing about the carpool situation rather than worrying about whether I was going to fit in or not. I already knew that I would have Alice by my side most of the day. She was a ballet dancer too. Rosalie danced as well. However, she would not be in very many of my classes. She had a different schedule than Alice because she claimed that she could only take so much of her perky little sister at a time before she would crack.

The car suddenly came to a stop as Rosalie put the car in park and cut the engine. Soon afterward, the boys pulled into the parking spot next to us.

I took a few deep breaths, determined to keep my banana and tea that I had decided to have for breakfast in my stomach.

"Oh, no you don't! If you're going to be sick, make sure you get out first." Rosalie grumbled as she shot me a look from the rear view mirror. I took one last deep breath. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I tried to convince her.

"Give her a break, Rose. It's her first day at a new school with hundreds of kids she doesn't even know. For all she knows, she could be behind in her dance training, or maybe even -"

"Thanks, Alice. But, you're not exactly helping me out here." I said. Steeling myself, I opened the car door before I lost my nerve. Alice and Rosalie quickly followed suit, still bickering.

Edward was leaning against the trunk of his car. He looked over at his sisters and just shook his head. "What are they going on about now? It's not even a 15 minute ride to school." He said.

I smiled weakly at him. "Um, I believe Alice is upset because Rose told me to get out before I got sick in her car." I inwardly cringed. Did I really just say that?

Edward looked at me a little confused. "Was her driving really that bad?" he laughed.

I tried to laugh with him, but it came out more like a strangled cough. "Uh, no. I…I guess I'm just a bit nervous for my first day" I admitted. This morning was slowly going downhill. If I didn't hurry up and make into the main office, I may never pluck up the courage to make myself do it.

I quickly scanned the campus. It was a decent size with a number of buildings. Now the tricky part was going to be trying to figure out which one I needed to go to so I could register.

"Well, I should probably go in and get registered and everything. Do you think you could point me in the right direction?"

Edward pointed off behind me. "That would be that building over there. The one that says main office above the double doors." He smirked. I blushed. Could I be any more dense this morning?

"Oh, right." I said. "Thanks."

I slowly made my way towards the main office.

"Bella, wait up!" I turned my head to see Alice running to catch up to me. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have to get registered before I can actually take any of my classes." I told her.

"Oh, well I'll come with you. I'll offer to be your guide!" she trilled.

* * *

I glanced around the studio room. All around me, students were stretching, chatting with each other, taping up their toes. Some of the girls were securing their hair with extra hair pins. A group of males were congregated in the corner; some of them were obviously checking out the girls across the room, while others were admiring the looks of those in their midst.

"Hey, are you going to get ready? Madame Sophia doesn't like laziness. Trust me when I say you don't want to make the wrong impression on your first day." Alice said. She was currently lacing up her shoes.

"Oh, right. Thanks." I shook my head to clear the nerves.

As I started stretching my feet, I continued to glance around the room. One girl, clearly 'little miss popular,' was hitting on one of the male dancers. I could hear her voice carry across the studio.

"I had a lot of fun last night, Mike. When do you want to get together again?" she asked. 'Mike' looked like he didn't exactly know how to answer that. Apparently he didn't have as much fun as she had.

"I don't know, Jessica. My parents have been on my back about being more serious about school. My dad doesn't like the fact that I dance as it is. If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't be doing this right now. I really think it would be best if I just focus and try to prove him wrong, that I can actually make a career out of this one day."

Jessica visibly deflated. Then she got a glint in her eye. "Oh, well. We'll see. Maybe we can get together soon and work a bit more intimately on our pas de deux! You're parents wouldn't keep you from working on an assignment now, would they…"

I stopped listening just then; pas de deux? Would I have to dance pas de deux? I was just about to ask Alice about it when Madame Sophia walked into the room.

"Good morning, class! I want everyone in the middle of the floor doing stretches. Start with your feet; move up through your calves, your hamstrings, your core, your back and arms. Got it? Good. You have 10 minutes. Get moving!" She clapped her hands on 'get moving' for emphasis. Having been momentarily lost in my own world, Alice elbowed me in the ribs from her spot on the floor next to me so I would get a move on.

As I began doing as we had all been told, Madame Sophia walked over to me.

"Good morning, Isabella, correct?"

"Um, yes ma'am."

She quickly looked me over. I could only guess that she was trying to size me up; figure out what sort of a challenge I would be.

"Do you go by Isabella? Or do you prefer Bella?"

"Oh! Um, you're going to give me a choice?" I asked. I mentally slapped my hand over my mouth. That was such a stupid thing to say!

Madame Sophia chuckled. "Yes, I am going to give you a choice. As far as I am concerned, a person should be able to decide what title they prefer to answer to. For instance, I prefer to be addressed as Madame Sophia as opposed to Madame Watson. In my opinion, Madame Watson makes me sound more like a detective's wife rather than a ballet instructor." She smiled at me.

I smiled back. I couldn't help but feel that Madame Sophia and I were going to get along very well.

"I prefer Bella." I said.

"Okay, Bella. I would like to pull you aside for a moment, if you don't mind." I nodded and complied. Madame Sophia led me out into the hallway.

"Bella, I have looked over your file to get an idea about where you are with your dance training. From what I can tell, you are pretty advanced. As far as I am concerned, you may even be a bit advanced for this class."

"I'm sorry but, what do you mean, a bit advanced for this class? I've never taken classes in a professional school before. I've always just taken private classes."

"Well, it looks like those private classes have paid off. Your previous instructor, Madame LeClaire, spoke very highly of you. When she found out where you would be attending school, she took it upon herself to write a sort of letter or recommendation. She really just wanted to make sure that we all knew what we should expect when working with you. After reading Madame LeClaire's letter, I decided to phone her up. We had a very nice conversation about you. What this all comes down to is, well, Bella, I would like to see how you do in my class. After a couple of weeks, if you are interested, I would like to start working with you personally. It has been a long time since I have heard of a student as dedicated as you. I believe that, with continued personal training, I could push you even further than your best work."

I was floored. Madame LeClaire had taken it upon herself to contact my new school about me? And why on earth would this woman who had never seen me dance, let alone even met me, want to work with me personally so I could have a better chance at a successful dance career?

"Wow. I…uh, well I am flattered, Madame Sophia. I just, I guess…I don't really understand…" I trailed off. Madame Sophia gave me a smile.

"Don't worry, Bella. This is not something that you have to worry about right now. Just think about it for now. For the time being, how about you go get stretched out, and we can start class, ok?"

* * *

A/N: Pas de deux - a couple's dance.

Please Review! :)


	8. Catching Up

A/N: Thank you to letterstoabba for showing interest in my fic! Until now, I haven't really felt much motivation to continue writing. Enjoy!

Charlie's POV

Forks, Washington; so far, I have to admit I love it here. I was never really one for the hustle and bustle of the city. Phoenix was always so loud…always; it didn't matter if it was day or night, there was always something going on. Forks has a different type of atmosphere; it's much more calm around here. Well, whenever Bella's new friend Alice isn't around that is.

Alice is so great for Bella. I shudder at the thought of what this move would have been like if it weren't for that bouncing ball of energy.

I can't help but be thankful for my forethought in this move. Before relocating, I used my connections to scope out the area. Knowing what the town was like, I had a feeling that Bella would feel like she had a huge target on her back; as it is, I, her father, accepted the position of Chief of Police and Investigation. That alone would be a large enough target on her back; forget about the fact that she would simply be the 'new girl' in town. Add to the mix the fact that we would also be among the top two wealthy families in the town, I really wanted to make sure that Bella felt comfortable around here. That was how I had met Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme.

I first heard of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen when I was trying to buy a house. When I found out that they lived on Willow Avenue, across the street from an available property, it suddenly made sense to me that this was the house I should purchase, regardless of any renovations I may have to have done before Bella and I arrived.

As it turned out, Carlisle and Esme have a few children of their own; five of them to be exact. I didn't go looking for the dirty details, but word around town is that the couple decided to adopt all of them. Apparently, Esme and Carlisle discovered early on in their marriage that they were unable to conceive children. The first few years after that were pretty rocky. Carlisle was working all the time and Esme would stay at home and try to keep busy with little projects around the house.

Eventually, their relationship became stronger, and after witnessing the number of children brought into the hospital without families to care for them, Carlisle approached Esme with the idea of adoption. Not long after that, the couple adopted three children – two sons and a daughter. Shortly after that, they took in another son and daughter.

But, I'm not one for gossip. However, you do tend to hear a lot as the Chief of Police and Investigation.

Mostly, I just wanted to make sure that Bella didn't feel like too much of an outsider. In Phoenix, although she had mostly kept to herself and her dance, Bella had friends and a life. I took her away from all of that. I guess that's why I made sure I did just about everything I could possibly think of in order to make this whole transition easier for her. Hence the wealthy, albeit slightly dysfunctional family we now live across the street from. I couldn't have Bella feeling like we were they only wealthy and dysfunctional ones around here could I? No; that would be poor parenting.

Thinking of Bella, she should be getting up about now. I set down my paper that I had no longer been reading while mulling over my thoughts, and glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall.

Was that really the time? I glanced down at my watch to double check and then made a mad dash upstairs to wake my daughter.

Poking my head into the room, I saw that Bella was still curled up in her blankets. She looked too precious to wake up, but I knew how important it was for her to make it to school on time.

"Bella, it's time to get up." I spoke just above a whisper as to not startle her. Walking closer to her bed, I knelt down beside her, brushed the hair out of her face, and shook her shoulder. "Bella, sweetheart, it's time for you to get up. Alice and Rosalie are going to be here soon. Come on Bella, you have to get ready." I urged.

I noticed her eyes start to flutter open. "Come on Bella, you've got to be ready to go soon."

Bella's POV

I shot up in bed as I heard my dad speaking to me.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

My dad chuckled. "It's time for you to get up. Alice and Rose will be here in about 20 minutes. You must have forgotten to set your alarm last night. Go ahead and jump in the shower. I will grab you something quick for breakfast."

With that, we both set off in opposite directions to get ready. I don't know what happened. As I quickly went through the motions of taking a shower, I remembered that I had stayed up late last night working on some choreography. Coming in around midterms, I was faced with the challenge of trying to catch up to where everyone else was.

My instructors had all willingly given me the option to postpone any sort of examination for at least a few weeks, maybe even a four. However, I didn't want any of them, or the students for that matter, to think that I needed the extra time. The sooner I could catch up with the other students, the sooner I would be able to dedicate my time to current lessons alone without having to divide my time.

With all of that in mind, I was led to the assumption that I must have simply forgotten to turn my alarm on before throwing myself into bed and falling asleep when I was done rehearsing.

I hurried out of the shower. I had washed up in record time, about five minutes, leaving me just enough time to get dressed, pull my hair back, and put on a touch of make-up.

I barreled down the stairs with my dance bag over one shoulder, a small stack of books secured in the crook of my elbow.

"Here you go, Bella. It's not much, but I thought it would be better than nothing. I don't want you dancing without anything in your stomach." My dad said as he handed me two slices of toast, an apple, and a bottle of water. "Thanks!"

I eagerly ate my breakfast as I searched for my shoes. Where had I left them? When I got home I had –

"Over here!" my dad yelled as he held up my pair of flats I had been looking for. I smiled at him appreciatively around a bite of toast.

The doorbell rang as I bit into my apple and slid my shoes on. "I'll get it!" dad called. I nodded my head as I swallowed and continued to gather my things. I just needed to find my car keys, and I was ready to go!

I rushed into the front entrance to see my dad chatting with Alice and Rose. They all stopped to look at me as I noisily shuffled my way into the room.

"Is everything alright there, Bella?" Alice asked; Rose quirked her eyebrow at me and smirked.

Dad chuckled. "Bella had a bit of a late start this morning. I think it has to do with all the stress she's been putting on herself to catch up to everyone in all of her classes." I saw dad glance over at me. I completely avoided the accusation by asking the girls if they were ready to go.

"I'll see you later, dad," I called over my shoulder on my way out the door.

As I was unlocking the door, my dad ran out on to the porch. "Wait, Bella! I almost forgot. I'm not going to be able to make it home for dinner tonight. I have to stay late and do some work at the office. Make sure you eat a decent supper, alright? You already work yourself hard enough as it is."

I didn't get the chance to answer. Alice did before I could.

"Don't worry about Bella, Charlie. She'll eat supper at our place tonight."

I looked over at Alice, who was smiling brightly at her new idea. Rosalie was just laughing as she watched the scene unfold before her.

"What time are you going to be home, dad?"

Rosalie muttered something under her breath. I'm fairly certain I heard "_you should _not_ have asked that in front of her…"_

I looked back up at my dad. "Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure. I have a lot of paper work to fill out that I have yet to be able to get to because the station has been busy. I would like to get as much as I can done. I can come home around 9pm or so. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I could always go in then too. At least that way you wouldn't have to be alone at night. How does that sound?" he asked.

Again, before I could even respond, Alice did for me.

"Honestly Charlie, don't you worry about a thing! Bella can spend the night at our house tonight. It'll be fun!"

"Really dad, I'm old enough –" I was cut off again.

"Don't be silly, Bella. It will be so much fun! We'll stay up late, watch movies, do each other's hair, paint nails, talk _boys_; all that girly stuff!" Alice jumped up and down.

I glanced up at my dad, who was still on the porch and looking at Alice with a bemused grin, then looked and Rose, who was shaking her head at her sister's antics, and then back at Alice.

"Fine!" I agreed, throwing my hands in the air to show I was resigned to my fate. Besides, what could one night in the Cullen house hurt?

* * *

Alice didn't shut up the entire ride to school; she just kept going on and on about all the 'fun things' we would get to do tonight.

"Alice," I finally interrupted her. "I will agree to every form of torture you have listed, but under one condition."

I glanced in the rear view mirror to make sure that I had her attention. I did. Alice had a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean, Bella?" she smiled innocently.

"I mean, I will agree to take part in all of your slumber party rituals as long as you agree to one thing for me. Do you think you can do that?" I asked.

"What do you want to do?" she looked puzzled.

"Well, I am still quite a bit behind in our classes. I was hoping that you might be able to help me work on some of the choreography for a few hours after school. If you agree to that, I will promise not to make a single complaint about any activities you may have planned for us tonight. Agreed?"

I watched as Alice considered my proposition.

"Will you let me give you a makeover?" She asked.

I really wanted to say no. However, having seen the way Alice danced in class, I knew that she was a strong dancer and that she knew the choreography extremely well.

"You know my condition. Help me out with the choreography, and I will allow you to give me a makeover. Do we have a deal?" I asked one last time.

Alice sighed dramatically. "Fine, we have a deal! But, honestly Bella, it's Friday night. Don't you understand what that means? It's like, against the rules of being a teenager to do any school work on a Friday night. Saturday morning? Well, maybe. Sunday afternoon or evening? Absolutely! But, come on, Friday night?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"Alice, what are you complaining about? Just help me out after school, and then I won't mention the choreography again until Sunday afternoon, I swear!"

"Wait, hey! Oh, fine; as long as I get to give you a makeover. You are in serious need of a new wardrobe! And by the way, if I am going to work with you again on Sunday, then we have to go shopping on Saturday; and just so you know, I won't be taking no for an answer!"

*INSERT PAGE BREAK HERE*

"Good morning, class! I hope you have all been working on your choreography for midterms, yes?" Madame Sophia announced. I shot a look at Alice, who just rolled her eyes at me.

"Also, in preparation for the approaching new semester, I am going to be starting to make considerations for pas de deux partners. Those of you who have been taking my extra pas de deux assistance class will remain with the partners you have for that class. As for everyone else, I will be observing…"

That's where I checked out. Madame Sophia continued speaking, but I didn't hear a single thing she said to us. Pas de deux – as in partners? No. Absolutely not! Was she trying to bring me to an early grave, because I was certain that I would die of humiliation if I had to dance with a partner!

"Bella, are you alright?" I believe it was Madame Sophia speaking to me, but it sounded so far off in the distance that I didn't completely register it.

"Bella…" the voice was getting closer. I tried to focus my vision so I could see who was trying to speak to me.

"Bella!" I shook my head a little and snapped out of it. Sure enough, Madame Sophia was looking at me, concern written all over her face. "Bella, are you alright?" she asked again.

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. That didn't work very well, so I took a sip of water. That helped a little. I cleared my throat. "Um, I'm fine. Thank you." I tried to sound convincing.

Madame Sophia looked at me accusingly. "Sweetheart, are you sure? Do you need to go to the nurse –?"

"NO! I mean, no. I'll be fine." I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Bella, if you don't mind, is everything alright? You just don't look so well. Are you sure you're not ill?" It didn't look like I would be able to squeeze out of this.

"I promise I'm fine. It's just that…well, when you mentioned that we would have to be paired up for pas de deux, I just…it's just that. Well, I haven't had very good experience with my past pas de deux partners." I blushed.

"Oh Bella, don't worry. I take my pairings very seriously. I promise I would do nothing to make you look poorly. Alright? Just trust me on this one. Besides, we still have a couple weeks before we actually get started working in partners. For now, let's just worry about today's lesson."

With those last words of encouragement, Madame Sophia dismissed us to the barre to warm up.

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A/N: As I read through this chapter, I noticed that I tend to have a sarcastic tone to my writing. I am not sure if it is just how I envision my version of the characters to be, or if it is just the way I write. Anyone else pick up on that?

Anyway. I am interested in any feedback you may feel like sharing! Please tell me what you think! :)


	9. Weekend With The Cullens: Part 1

A/N: Sorry for such a long wait in between updates! I am currently working on my senior year of college, and up until now, live has just been so hectic that I Have hardly had the chance to breathe! However, now that winter break is here, and I have very little else to do, I should at least have the chance to get a few more chapters up before the Spring semester starts up. So, without further ado, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

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School was finally out for the weekend! I was momentarily ecstatic, until I remembered the plans Alice had made for me this morning.

"You know, you really didn't have to invite me to spend the night tonight, let alone supper. I don't want to impose…" I would have continued, but the look Alice shot at me made me quickly shut my mouth.

"Now Bella, that's enough! Honestly, my mother loves to entertain, and this will be the perfect opportunity for just that. Besides, do you _truly_ wish to spend the entire evening in that big old house of yours, all by yourself?" Alice asked.

"I wouldn't be alone. I have Lucy. Oh!" Lucy! How could I have forgotten about my little puppy? There was no way I could leave her all alone for the night. Yes, Charlie would be home eventually, but still, that was an awful long time for the poor thing to be alone.

"Don't you even try and use Lucy as an excuse!" Alice beat me to the punch. "She can come along as well. The boys will love having another animal to roll around and play outside with." She smirked. Rosalie burst out laughing.

"I don't know about that one, Alice" Rose intervened. "Emmett might just squish the little thing. She'd probably be better off with us."

"Us?" I questioned. "I thought you had plans tonight?" I asked.

"No, not really. I was going to go out shopping with some friends from school, but since you two are going on Sunday, I figured I would just go then. Trust me Bella; you are going to need my experience in dealing with Alice on a shopping trip." I thought she was kidding, but Rosalie looked completely serious.

"Besides," she continued. "I may not be in all of your classes, but I do take the same lessons that you do. I know all the same choreography. I heard that you have quite the studio in your house, and I could use some practice of my own. I wouldn't mind helping you get caught up."

It took all I had not to let my mouth drop open. Instead, I made myself focus on opening the car door and buckling myself in. I started the car, and we were off.

"Thank you, Rose. I really appreciate it. I really just want to get caught up in time for midterms so I don't have to waste any more of my time on the old material." I said.

Rose just smiled at me in the rear-view mirror.

About ten minutes later, I pulled into my driveway.

"So, what shall we do first?" I asked. We all gathered our bags and got out of the car.

"How about we all go and pack a bag for the sleepover, bring it to our place, grab a snack, and _then_ we can work on choreography." Alice suggested.

"Why do I need to pack a bag? I live just across the street." I said. "All I have to do is grab sleep clothes. I can simply walk across the street to change in the morning."

"I don't think so!" Alice shouted. "In order for it to be a real sleepover, you must bring your stuff over to our house." She smiled.

I just rolled my eyes and decided to humor her.

Alice and Rosalie followed me up the walkway to the front door, where I fished my pocket for the front key. When I got the door open, I was instantly hit with the scent of home; it was sort of a mixture of raspberry vanilla and my dad's cologne, a perfect blend of the two occupants.

"Lucy!" I hollered. She was sure to be sleeping on her cushion in the living room. Dad had made it a habit of his to come home on his lunch hour to let her out so she wouldn't have an accident in the house. Well, during that hour, he would play with my little Lucy to the point of exhaustion. I would come home to find her sleeping most days.

Upon hearing my entrance, Lucy stumbled into the foyer. "Well, hello, Lucy." I smiled and picked her up.

"Would you girls like to leave your dance bags in the studio? That way you don't have to lug them back and forth across the street."

"Sure." They both agreed.

"Alright, just follow me upstairs" I said as I continued to carry Lucy.

"Wow, Bella, your house is beautiful!" said Rosalie. "I guess I wasn't paying much attention the last time you showed us in."

"Well, I have done a little bit of decorating over the last couple of weeks. The designer my dad hired did a wonderful job, don't get me wrong. But, the longer we lived her, the more I started to feel like we were living in a design show room rather than our own home. I guess my dad was starting to feel the same way. When I mentioned wanting to put up some pictures and stuff, he jumped right on board." I shrugged.

"Here we are" I announced when we made it to the door of my studio.

"I am _so_ jealous!" Rosalie gushed. She never ceased to amaze me. Rosalie Cullen was jealous of me!

"You know, Rose, there is plenty of space in here. If you ever want to come over and practice or something just let me know." I said.

Rosalie smiled her thanks at me. We dropped off our dance bags and then headed over to my bedroom.

Once we were in there, I put Lucy on my bed, where she promptly curled up and closed her eyes for a snooze.

"Let me pick your clothes!" How typical of Alice.

"Go for it," I said. By this point, I was starting to learn that it was sometimes easier to just let Alice have her way. "My duffle bag is on the left wall, top cubby." I told her. I headed into my bathroom to start putting together my toiletries.

"I still can't believe your dad helped design this room for you." Rosalie said. She was sitting at my desk and looking around the room. "No offence, but looking at him, you wouldn't think he knew his way out of a paper bag when it comes to design." She continued.

I had to agree with that. My dad was as simple as they came. Everything about him was simple; his haircut, the shoes he wore, the clothes he bought, everything.

"I know what you mean" I told her. "When he told me that he had helped out with it, I could tell that he was proud. At the same time, you could hear the nerves dripping from his voice at the possible chance I might hate it." I chuckled as I remembered the day we first moved to Forks.

"Alright, I think I packed everything!" Alice trilled. All I had left to grab was my pillow; Rose grabbed it for me and we got ready to go across the street to their house.

"Bye, Lucy. We'll be back for you later." I spoke to her as if she could understand everything I said perfectly.

Over at the Cullens' house, we were greeted by Esme in the kitchen. "Hi girls!" she greeted. "You all must be hungry. I'm sure you had a long day at school." She had prepared a beautiful fruit salad with peanut butter and crackers on the side. There were three glasses of lemonade on the bar, each with a place setting.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen." I said.

"Oh, Bella, there will be none of that. It's Esme. Don't forget to call my husband Carlisle." She chastised. I blushed at the friendly rebuke. "Thank you, Esme." I corrected. She beamed.

"Alice texted me earlier and let me know that Charlie would be at the office until late this evening. I hope you know that any time this has to happen I fully expect you and Lucy to spend the night here. I don't like the idea of you being in that house without anyone else, especially at night. You have a standing, open invitation to come over whenever you please, is that understood?" Esme directed at me. I smiled at her. "Yes Esme."

Alice, Rosalie and I put my things down in the corner of the room and helped ourselves to the snacks Esme had provided for us.

At that moment, we all heard the front door burst open, followed by laughter and guffaws.

"That would be my sons" Esme shook her head. "Boys, please come into the kitchen!" Esme hollered.

"Coming!" One of them shouted back.

"Boys," Esme greeted as they made their way in. "We have a guest this weekend. I expect the three of you will be courteous and help Bella feel at home, correct?"

All three of them looked at me. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks as all attention was on me.

"Yes ma'am." They all responded.

"Wonderful. Now, would one of you please be so polite as to bring Bella's things up to the girls' room?" Esme asked.

"I'll do it."

I looked over to see Edward picking up my belongings before leaving the room with them. My stomach did a little bit of a flip-flop. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling so hungry any more. I put my fork down and grabbed my glass of lemonade instead. Taking slow sips seemed to help the odd sensation still in the pit of my stomach.

"Did you boys have a nice day at school today?" Esme asked her two remaining sons.

"Eh. Same as usual, I guess" said Jasper. "We've been working on this piece in music theory, and some people just don't get it as quickly as others; it makes for a sort of boring lesson when you are one of the people who understood the first time around."

Esme smiled at her son understandingly. Jasper had always been rather quick to pick up a new task, hence the reason he had a multitude of talents that were well developed. It didn't seem to matter whether he was working on a new instrument, or just helping one of his siblings with their dance choreography, even if he wasn't in the class himself, he always had a quick understanding of the material.

"What about you, Emmett?"

"Pretty good I guess. Oh, Madame Estrella needed help with a demonstration in class today, and she asked me to assist her; she needed someone to demonstrate the proper way to lift a lady into the air without showing any strain or effort. Personally, I think she called upon me because I'm so freaking muscular!"

Esme chuckled; Rosalie smiled at her boyfriend. "That's my man," she said.

I didn't know what to do; I was caught between the need to burst out laughing and the desire to remain in good terms with Rosalie. I was saved by everyone else in the room bursting into laughter themselves, including Edward, who had returned from bringing my stuff to the girls' bedroom.

"Oh, please." Edward said. "Don't let it get to your head, Em. You were just next in line for a series of demonstrations she was having us all take turns to perform. The guy before you got to demonstrate the proper hand positions for a leg extension." Edward wagged an eyebrow suggestively at Emmett as he grinned.

"Alright, alright" Esme broke up the potential argument that was bound to start up. "What do you all have planned for this evening?"

"Well, we girls are going to head over to Bella's for a bit. Alice and I are going to help Bella get caught up with some choreography for the upcoming midterms. We should be back by dinner. Oh, and we will be bringing Lucy with us; I don't think it would be a good idea to make a puppy spend the night alone in that big house." Rosalie said.

"Of course" Esme said. "Lucy is just as welcome as you are, Bella. Remember that."

"Thank you again, Esme" I said. There seemed to be no end to this woman's love and compassion for others. She fit the role of mother so well; it seemed a shame that she hadn't been able to have children of her own. The Cullen children seemed really lucky to have her as their mother.

"What about you boys?" Esme asked.

"I was thinking about reading for a bit. I have a book that I haven't really been able to get to because of homework lately." said Jasper.

"I want to go for a run; I think I might get a few new songs for my iPod first, though." said Emmett.

"What about you, Edward?" Esme asked.

"I was considering working on my composition for a bit. I still have to come up with an ending by the beginning of the week. I want to have that all set by Sunday since it is my first midterm performance coming up. That and I really need to get back to working on my form for some of the dance choreography." said Edward.

I don't know what came over me. In a single moment, a thought coursed through my mind and I was speaking; to Edward.

"If you want, you can join us over at my place. There is plenty of room in my studio for all of us to work on our own thing without getting in each others way.

I blushed furiously. Edward looked at me quizzically.

"Sounds good to me!" Alice trilled.

Edward seemed to recover from my comment. "Yeah, sounds good. I'll just go and get my stuff." He took off upstairs to retrieve his dance stuff.

In that moment, everyone in the room was looking around the room curiously, trying to decipher what had just panned out in front of them; everyone, that is, except for Alice, who was eying me with a look that screamed 'I know something you don't know!'

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Please review! :) I would love to know what you think!


	10. Weekend With The Cullens: Part 2

A/N: As promised, I worked my butt off to have another chapter ready ASAP! I apologize if there are any grammatical mistakes; I probably missed a few in my haste to publish a second chapter in just a few days. That being said, I had a lot of hits but no new reviews. I truly would love to hear some feedback about my fic. I am hoping that the number of hits I have means that there are people who like the story, but I really don't want to be left making assumptions.

As for this chapter, I realize that things have been pretty slow going. In order to make up for that, I have provided you all with the longest chapter I have written so far! I promise that, once I get through Bella's weekend with the Cullens, the story line with move much quicker. That being said, I have always intended for this to be a fairly long fic (maybe 20 chapters or so).

So, without further ado, on with the story!

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Bella's POV

"One, two, three, pirouette…four, five, six jetѐ" Rosalie clapped with each count to maintain the tempo and called out the steps. "You're doing better Bella. I think if you try and rehearse it just a few more times this evening, and then test your memory on Sunday, you should be all set for the midterm."

I couldn't help the smile that plastered itself to my face. "Do you really think so, Rose?" I asked. I didn't want to trick myself into a false sense of security in regards to my knowledge of the choreography. If I could just get this into my head, I would be all set come the new term; I would be able to work at the same pace as the other students without the pressure of the previous term's work as well.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Edward, who was working on his turns across his section of the room.

Rosalie smirked as she followed my gaze. "Yes, I really think so, Bella." I focused on Rose once again. "Thanks Rose."

She smiled. Alice was currently sprawled across the floor, sipping from her water bottle, looking bored. "Come on, Alice" I nudged her with my toe. "I know this isn't exactly your idea of a good time, but I promise to hold up my end of our bargain if you keep yours as well."

Alice made a show of rolling her eyes and sighing. "Alright, alright…I know I said that I would help you with the choreography. You best believe me when I say that you better enjoy this time right now, because tomorrow, we are going to shop till we drop!"

Edward made a snort that sounded suspiciously like a covered up laugh. Looking over at him, I saw that he had stopped his turns and was trying to compose himself. Rosalie looked over at her brother with an evil grin.

Rosalie's POV

"Hey Edward, what are you doing tomorrow?" I asked, knowing that he had been grateful when he heard that Alice had been planning a girls shopping weekend. That meant that Alice would not drag him along to help with the shopping bags.

"Um, probably just working on my composition…why?" he asked skeptically. In the matter of a moment, I saw realization set in. "But…"

"Good!" I exclaimed. "That means that you can join us. Besides, you know that the guys would probably give you hell for not having to go with them too." At the prospect of seeing Edward and Bella interact with one another for a full day, I made the executive decision that, rather than just the girls going shopping, we should drag all of the guys along as well. Alice would hardly object seeing as she hates carrying all of her own shopping bags. "It's decided then, Edward. Tomorrow, you will come shopping with all of us; we'll make it a group thing. You won't have to be the fifth wheel this time." I winked at him. Edward knew that out of all of his siblings, I understood him the most in this aspect of his life. All of us Cullen kids had 'coincidentally' paired up as we got older. At first, our parents weren't so sure it was a good idea to let it happen. However, they trusted us, and they knew that the more they told us no, the more chances that we would surely rebel.

Up until now, whenever the five of us wanted to do something together, as a group, Edward would always somehow end up as the odd man out, even when we split up as boys and girls. As the youngest brother, Edward was constantly treated as the low man on the totem pole. However, now that Bella is around, I give it until the end of the school year before they are an item.

Before we all came over to Bella's house to work on some choreography in her studio, I witnessed the exchange that happened between Bella and Edward in the kitchen. I may not have clued in on it as quickly as Alice had, but I still pieced it together. Those two have a connection that they don't even know exists yet. Looking back on their first meeting in the park, when Bella was walking Lucy, I don't know how I missed it. But then again, we all missed it at that point; but not this time.

Bella's POV

"Alright, let's go over the combination just once more, then we can do it with the music; sound good?" I asked.

Rosalie nodded her head in my direction while Alice continued with her theatrics. "Alright," Alice said, droning out each syllable.

After I was certain that I felt more comfortable with the material, I was willing to risk it with the music. I silently hoped that I didn't make a fool of myself in front of Edward. I couldn't help but notice that he kept glancing over at our side of the room as he was working on his own thing.

"Hey Edward," Rosalie called. "Could you please start the music so Alice and I can do the choreography with Bella?"

"Sure," Edward responded as he walked over to the stereo system built into the corner of the room. As he walked over, I noticed his appreciative glance over the electronic devices; he must have had a better idea than I did in regards to what all of the buttons and dials were for.

I prepared myself for the opening count. Standing in the middle of the room, my eyes closed, choreography running through my head, waiting for the music to begin, I tried to clear my mind. I remembered Madame LeClaire, imparting her knowledge upon me when I was one of her dancers; I just needed to let go. Breathing slowly, I felt the vibrations of the acoustics work their way through the room. Then, opening my eyes, I let the steps translate themselves through my body.

In that moment, I was unaware of my surroundings; unaware of the fact that Alice and Rosalie weren't actually dancing with me; unaware of the fact that there were three sets of eyes transfixed on my every movement.

As I finished the combination, and the music came to an end, the tranquility of my own private world was shattered by deafening silence. As I tried to gain my composure, I looked to the three individuals who were still staring at me.

"Remind me, why are you so worried about not getting the choreography?" Alice asked sarcastically. At first, I didn't understand the reason for the tone behind her words. However, it didn't take long for me to figure it out; whenever I took the well spoken advice of Madame LeClaire, I always danced my best. That woman knew me better than anyone else; all I ever really had to do was listen to what she had to say. Looking at my audience, I knew that everything she had ever told me about my dancing was true.

"That was beautiful."

It was a simple statement; if it would have come from either of the other two occupants in the room, I would have smiled my thanks and proceeded to attempt to shift the focus off of me.

"Um…" My mouth went dry and I had to clear my throat. "Thank you." I attempted to smile at Edward. That's when I felt it; my face must have been ten shades of red considering how violently I could feel my cheeks blush. I looked away awkwardly, eyes landing on my water bottle, and then decided I could use a drink. Shuffling my feet in the direction of said water bottle, I felt my left foot catch on my right heel, and before I knew it, the distance between my face and the floor was quickly becoming less and less.

Before I was able to land on the ground at full impact, a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around me. I was vaguely aware of the startled sounds of surprise emitted by both Alice and Rosalie. As for myself, I had managed to make an un-Godly sound the seemed to be comparable a shriek an elephant may let loose just before taking part in a stampede.

While the strong arms around me had prevented me from landing face first on the floor, I had not been shielded enough to prevent all injury; looking at my left hand, supporting some of my weight off of the floor, I noticed that two of my fingers looked un-healthily swollen.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked as he attempted to situate me in a more comfortable position on the floor.

I continued to stare down at my hand; my fingers were steadily taking on a bluish tint, mixed with a bit of purple. "Um, I think so. But, I believe I may have done something to my hand…" I trailed off, gesturing to my left hand. Edward looked at the hand in question and let out a low whistle.

"Looks like you did a number to your fingers. We should probably get some ice on that." He said.

Rosalie and Alice came over to meet us on the floor. "Oh, that's so gross!" Alice exclaimed. I couldn't have said it better myself. I had a record of being quite squeamish with things like this. The only reason I had not passed out at this point was from sheer will power; I could only imagine the embarrassment that would come along with doing that in front of all three of them.

"Why don't we call it a night for dance rehearsal?" Rosalie asked. "We can just put in a bit of extra time on Sunday; sound good to you?"

Too embarrassed to speak, I simply nodded.

Edward and Rosalie helped me onto my feet, both checking me over for any more possible injuries. All I could do was blush further.

"You're pretty good at that." Alice said amusingly.

Confused, I asked, "Good at what?"

"Blushing." She stated bluntly. "It suits you though." She added with a smile. All the while, she had been helping me out of my Pointe shoes.

As we were getting ready to close down the studio room, Alice offered to gather Lucy and her over night anything she may need for the night.

Just as we were all just about to leave the room, Edward stopped. With a smirk, he jogged over the far wall. Bending down, he picked up my forgotten water bottle. "I thought you might want this." He stated. "After your attempted effort to retrieve it in the first place, I figured you may want it." Rosalie snorted right before bending over in uncontrollable laughter.

I gave her a death glare. "For someone so pretty, you'd think such an ugly sound would be impossible to come out of you." I stated coolly. That sobered her up rather quickly. I mentally patted myself on the back; I may be quite intelligent, in the book sense, but I was not typically that quick witted.

As he observed the scene in front of him, Edward couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. "Alright." He said. "Let's get Alice and Lucy and head home. I'm sure she just about has supper ready."

* * *

Esme's POV

Looking down at the recipe book that I had opened on the counter top, I skimmed the list of ingredients to make sure I had everything that I needed; we would be having lasagna with a Caesar salad tonight, and lemon meringue pie for dessert; it wasn't every day that I had the chance to host a guest for dinner.

As soon as Alice had informed me that Isabella Swan (and her puppy, Lucy) would be spending the night, I rummaged through my kitchen to make sure I had something suitable to serve for supper and dessert. I have always enjoyed hosting company; it gave me an excuse to try out a bit more upscale cuisine. Being the mother of five teenagers, most of the time, they just wanted something quick and easy so they wouldn't have to wait long. With them, it didn't seem to matter whether it was completely edible as long as they were able to scarf it down fast enough.

As I finished rinsing off my lettuce and patting it dry, my mind wandered to my five children. Over the years, my kids had made a very nice home out of Forks, Washington; it hadn't always been that way though. When the kids were younger, we moved out here from Chicago, IL; Carlisle had been a doctor out there, and when presented with the opportunity to transfer to another hospital with a chief of staff position, he jumped at it, hoping that moving to a smaller town would mean having the opportunity to spend more time with his children. For the most part, he had received his wish. I dread the thought of how things might have turned out if we were still living in Chicago, hardly seeing each other. I can guarantee that it would have been more difficult to figure out how to handle the fact that our children had developed romantic feelings for one another.

I can't help but smile at the memory of this particular hurdle in our lives. When the kids were fairly young, Carlisle and I could not deny the fact that certain kids got along better with others. For instance, no matter how hot headed Rosalie could get, she could never truly become angry, or stay angry for long, with Emmett. It was always similar with Alice and Jasper; no matter how hyper Alice could be, Jasper always calmed her down. On the flip side, Jasper has always seemed to have an agitated disposition. However, Alice has always been able to make he relax.

And then there was Edward.

Oh, Edward; while he has always seemed to get along quite well with all of his siblings, there has also been times at which he was made the odd man out. For instance, when the kids were younger, if they decided to play a game or something, Edward typically opted out or ended up having to share a partner with someone else. Thinking about this reminded me of the exchange that occurred between Edward and Bella right before my own eyes.

Before heading over to the Swans' the kids had all been congregated in the kitchen. I can't exactly recall what had led up to the exchange, but something clearly happened between Edward and Bella; even Emmett, who had quite the knack for being thick at times, had mentioned to me that he had seen something happen as well.

In my opinion, I would say that Edward has finally found his partner. I know that it may be a bit extreme to say something so bold, but I know my son. If what I saw was real, Edward and Bella have a connection that they may not quite understand yet themselves.

Finished with the salad, I moved over to the stove to retrieve the boiling lasagna noodles. After straining them, I sprinkled a small amount of olive oil over the past, mixed it together, and then proceeded to lay out the strips in a glass pan so I could put dinner in the over.

Just after setting the timer for the lasagna, I heard the front door open and close. According to the sigh of contentment that followed, I knew that my husband was home. Soon after I heard him kick off his shoes, he made his way to find me in the kitchen.

With my back to the kitchen door I did not see him enter, so I was slightly startled when I felt his hands around my waist.

"Hello darling." Carlisle spoke into my hair.

"Welcome home." I said to him as I turned around in his embrace. I briefly kissed him on the lips and smiled up at him. "Did you have a nice day at the hospital?" I asked him.

As always, Carlisle smiled down at me and gave me a brief description of his day at work while I cleaned up some of the dishes I had dirtied in the process of making dinner.

As he finished recounting the day's events, I poured us each a glass of wine.

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I put the wine bottle back in the refrigerator. "You should be happy to know that your bet regarding our Edward and Miss Swan is in the lead as of this afternoon."

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Please, please, please, please, please review! It would make me so INCREDIBLY happy, not to mention motivated to post another chapter VERY soon!

3 Ava


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